A tattoo is a design on the skin that can be either permanent or non-permanent. Permanent tattoos are well known and have their origins dating back to at least as early as the Egyptian times. Permanent tattoos are typically applied to the skin with tattoo needles, which ink a desired design onto an individual's skin. Non-permanent tattoos are also known, and are typically adhered to an individual's skin in a variety of known fashions. Tattoos have been applied to an individual's skin for a variety of different purposes, including decoration, social status, and as a sign of endearment.
While permanent tattoos have been around for thousands of years, the desire to remove or cover permanent tattoos has likely existed almost as long. The same desire that exists to remove or cover permanent tattoos also applies to scars or skin imperfections that may exist on an individual's skin. Typical processes for removing permanent tattoos or correcting or hiding scars or skin imperfections include painful and expensive surgical procedures that can result in scarring or skin tissue. Less permanent methods involve the application of make-up or other liquid concealers. The known make-up products that are used as temporary concealers suffer from a variety of disadvantages. For example, they are susceptible to smearing or smudging are not waterproof and therefore last only a relatively short period of time. Further, they require frequent reapplication to ensure that the individual's skin remains covered.
Additionally, some temporary tattoos are known to be utilized to cover up dark skin imperfections. However, these temporary tattoos have only limited effectiveness. For example, if these temporary tattoos are applied over a darker skin imperfection, the underlying skin imperfection will typically show through the temporary tattoo, which defeats the purpose of attempting to cover or hide it. In general, these current temporary tattoos include three discrete layers. The first layer is a temporary tattoo paint or design that is applied to paper. The second layer consists of a sticky substrate that is disposed on top of the tattoo paint or painted design to allow the above layer to adhere to the skin. The third layer consists of a clear plastic removable protective cover which is intended to protect the temporary tattoo patch.
An exemplary illustration of a prior method for covering a skin imperfection is disclosed in U.S. Publication No. 2002/01110672, to Muratore-Pallatino. The Muratore-Pallatino reference discloses a temporary tattoo for concealing veins, blemishes, wine marks, bruises, age marks and other skin conditions. The temporary tattoo disclosed therein consists of a transfer patch that is intended to match the skin tone and pigment holding an image of human skin. Thus, these temporary tattoos vary in tones in an effort to closely match and blend in with a variety of skin pigments and colorings. These temporary tattoos may also vary in size and shape to cover a particular skin imperfection. The temporary tattoo disclosed in Muratore-Pattatino consists of an opaque tattoo patch holding an image of human skin applied to translucent material, which is applied to conceal skin imperfections. While this temporary tattoo may work reasonably well on many skin imperfections it is ineffective in concealing a permanent tattoo therebeneath. This is because an undertone of color from the permanent (or other temporary) tattoo will typically show through the temporary tattoo containing the image of the human skin. The same problem also applies with the application of this temporary tattoo to any high contrast or dark color skin imperfections. The end result is that despite the application of the opaque temporary tattoo, the permanent tattoo or skin imperfection is not completely concealed.
Other processes exist, however, they all also suffer from a variety of disadvantages. For example, some of the processes are expensive and therefore not readily available. Other processes do not adequately conceal dark skin imperfections or the ink from a permanent tattoo. Thus, a need exists for a temporary concealer for application to an individual's skin that will adequately hide all types of skin imperfections as well as permanent tattoos that is readily available, can be easily applied, and is relatively long lasting.